Apuleius and Drama

The Ass on Stage

Regine May

Description

Regine May discusses the use of drama as an intertext in the work of the 2nd century Latin author Apuleius, who wrote the only complete extant Latin novel, the Metamorphoses, in which a young man is turned into a donkey by magic. Apuleius uses drama, especially comedy, as a basic underlying texture, and invites his readers to use their knowledge of contemporary drama in interpreting the fate of his protagonist and the often comic or tragic situations in which he finds himself. May employs a close study of the Latin text and detailed comparison with the corpus of dramatic texts from antiquity, as well as discussion of stock features of ancient drama, especially of comedy, in order to explain some features of the novel which have so far baffled Apuleian scholarship, including the enigmatic ending. All Latin and Greek has been translated into English.

Apuleius and Drama

The Ass on Stage

Regine May

Table of Contents

1. Introduction2. Knowledge of Drama and Archaism in the Second Century3. Drama, Philosophy, and Rhetoric: Apuleius' Minor Works4. Courtroom Drama: Apuleius' Apologia5. The Texture of the Metamorphoses6. The Drama of Aristomenes and Socrates7. A Parasite in a Comic Household8. The Risus Festival: Laughing at Laughter9. Cupid and Psyche: A Divine Comedy10. Charite: How Comedies Do Not End11. `Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor Plautus too light': Book 1012. The End: Isis: Dea ex machina?13. Conclusion